Oil Pan heater or Block heater?

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LC

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Aug 26, 2005
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Which do you think would be better?
4cly auto sits outside 24/7 Wisconsin winters.
Leaning towards the Wolverine Model 16.
dunno.gif
 
My engine has the factory block heater. It makes a huge difference on really cold mornings. If the temp is say 5 Deg F on a really cold morning and the block heater was plugged in over night, oil is flowing in the top end within seconds of start-up. Without the block heater, it takes 30 - 40 seconds before I see the first drip of oil in the top end.

The block heater keeps everything that is surrounded by coolant warm, and I guess there is some heat conduction down into the oil pan to raise the oil temp somewhat. A pan heater would definitely heat the oil more than a block heater. Overall I can't say which is better.
 
OK, the oil pan heater attaches to the bottom of the pan but where does the block heater attach to and how does each method work specifically?
 
I have both on my truck, I run 0W30 XD-3 oil and I use a winterfront (I know, this doesn't effect start up). Yes I am paranoid about cold weather wear. However, my truck still starts like summer even when -30.

The block heater is much more effective when used alone, as the other poster said, it tends to heat the entire engine block more effectively since the coolant surrounds many engine components. Although Wolverine claims that the pan heater heat the engine block, in my experience they don't do it (or at least not nearly as well as a coolant block heater). They do help reduce the cold start oil pressure and my oil pressure reaches normal levels quicker with the pan heater (regardless of the block heater). Block heaters generally go in place of a freeze plug.
 
Looking at a diagram off of howstuffworks.com, coolant lines reach from the bottom of the motor, the back of it, the automatic transmission, and the radiator. The the oil pan heater would affect the oil only, no?
 
Quote:


Which do you think would be better?
4cly auto sits outside 24/7 Wisconsin winters.
Leaning towards the Wolverine Model 16.
dunno.gif





Use a full synthetic and forget about it. It doesn't get that cold here that a true synthetic won't flow.
 
I have a Mazda with the 1.8L 4 cylinder equiped with a block heater only. She starts easily when plugged in, however I run Mobil1 5w30 in the winter.
 
I use a block heater but not an oil pan heater. A block heater usually provides more heat (about 450 watts) and warms the whole engine block. The engine starts up like it's summer and can even start blowing warmer air right away for defrosting. With 0W oils I'm not concerned about the oil flowing at cold temperatures. Having an oil pan heater would certainly be better than a block heater alone, but I'm not going to spend the money on one; a block heater is enough for me.

My car will start at -40F without a block heater, but it doesn't sound or feel happy about it!
 
I use a synthetic and the car started just fine last winter. I am thinking that the oil pan heater will help with engine wear in the winter months. The only reason I was heading to the oil pan heater was ease of install.
The dealer wants to charge me $180.00 for a block heater on my Mercury Milan I4.
 
I'd go with a block heater for sure. I installed one a couple years back, I get heat faster, the car idles at 1000-1100 right away vs the 2000 or so RPM it starts at cold without it. As far as overall wear reduction I'd *think* that the block heater would still be best. The pan heater probably warms the oil more, but the block heater lets the whole engine finish warm up faster, less pig-rich running as everything is warm. Warm oil & ice cold coolant, the engine will still dump a ton of fuel until it warms up which will increase cylinder wear for sure.

Do you mean the dealer wants $180 installed? If so thats not too bad. I installed mine myself and it requires draining the block of all coolant, knocking out a freeze plug (which gave me a LOT of trouble, it got knocked INTO the block and took an hour to get it out) installing it and then refilling coolant & bleeding air.
 
If you know how to cut the heater hose and insert this you can save $150.00 I would not pay anyone $180.00 for a heater when thirty bucks and ten minutes I can install one.
This is a 1500 watt much more than the freeze plug heaters so you would want to put a timer on it and turn it on 1 hour before you leave for work
You can buy a timer at Wal-Mart for a couple dollars I used one like this to start a 18 wheeler for years
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1500-WATT...8QQcmdZViewItem
 
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less pig-rich running as everything is warm. Warm oil & ice cold coolant, the engine will still dump a ton of fuel until it warms up which will increase cylinder wear for sure.




This would be why my choice would be the block heater over the pan heater. You avoid all that fuel dilution.
 
Thank you to ever one for your feed-back.
Yes the $180.00 install was for a block heater. I have installed them also myself. But on this car the frost plugs are buried and I did not want to deal with it.
I have used many in line hose type heaters and they never worked very well or lasted very long. Maybe they are made better now than they were 10 years ago. All my other vehicles for the past 10 years have had factory block heater on them and they work well.
I was just curious how people felt about the oil pan heaters. In the best case having both would be ideal.
Well I am going to look into the “old” cut the hose and install the heater systems.
Thank again for all the feedback.
 
Putting a heater in the heater hoses making a parallel circuit is the way one of our maintenance guys does it. He says that going through the freeze-plug is risky, no matter how careful you are it's not only a risk but away from the shop, impossible to effect a roadside repair. The inline connection is easy to trouble shoot and repair well enough to safely get home with tools you are more likely to find.
 
Block heaters have been installed from that factory in frost plug locations for years and the rarely ever cause any problems. In my area all new cars sold (at least domestics) are equipped with block heaters when new (some Japanese makes still have them as an option). Even on the rare occasion that a block heater does leak, I never seen one that was a catastrophic leak. Usually it's minor, so much so that it often goes unnoticed be the customer. A tank heater is more likely to cause leaks, since it introduces more hoses and connections to you coolant system.

That said, my former daily driver, a 1985 Olds Delta 88 with an all cast iron 307 V8, was equipped with a Zero Start 1500 Watt tank heater. It worked far better than a block heater for prewarming the engine. That old cast iron engine took a long time to heat up, but with the tank heater it would be blowing heat after idling for 5 minutes in the driveway when -30.

The tank heater is definitely a worth while option, although a 1500 watt unit would be overkill for a 4cyl with a small cooling system (there are several sizes available). Just keep in mind, it may not work well with your application. I wanted to install one in my truck, but it would work due to the block drain location and the heater hose location. These heaters must be installed at the lowest point of your cooling system to work properly (thermal siphoning). This was easy in the big engine bay of my old V8 Olds, it may not be possible in your car.

I am not sure how harsh WI winters are, but personally, I think your best bet would be to install the block heater. Synthetic oil works well for easy starts, but your car doesn't warm up faster like it will with a block heater. Plus, it improves cold start emissions and fuel economy. And not to say you can't use both, I mean after all we are on BITOG, and are a just a tad pickier than the average owner.

If you don't want to spend the cash on the block heater install, go the tank style would be my second choice, simply because it is probably overkill for your application. Than again, you may like overkill, I do.

The pan heater would definitely be the third choice. It works well, but it is the least effective of the bunch when used alone. Like I said, it works well to heat the oil, which is great for reducing cold start wear, but does little to preheat the engine, and reduce engine warm-up time.
 
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